Other Views: Democrat or Republican, America needs leadership

No one knows yet who will win the presidential election or control the houses of Congress after Tuesday's election. What is apparent is that after all of the campaigning is done, someone will have to govern.

In parliamentary democracies, the prime minister has a governing consensus in the government's legislative branch. This country's separation of powers makes for a decidedly different situation.In a race that polls tell us is extremely tight, either candidate could win and face a Congress in which one or both houses are dominated by the opposing party. And complaining about obstructionism will not be a viable alternative to governing.President Barack Obama has spent much of the campaign blaming the Republicans for a lack of progress. His explanation for "gridlock" is to point to the other guys. ...Republican challenger Mitt Romney claims that he knows how to govern without a legislative majority. Indeed, he points to his experience in Massachusetts, in which he worked as a Republican governor with a legislature that was 87 percent Democratic.But Romney must realize that Massachusetts is not representative of the United States. ...A certain amount of gridlock is expected and desirable, but compromise is necessary, too.The next Congress and president face important issues -- the so-called fiscal cliff, mounting debt, a continually fluid Middle East, high unemployment, and more. These problems must be addressed. The process of addressing the country's problems is called governing, and it will require more flexibility than either side has demonstrated so far.

--- The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News

No more freshmen?

We can still print the word "freshman" in this family newspaper.

But for how much longer?

The University of North Carolina has banned that masculine-dominant term from its official documents, replacing it with "first-year student."

As the esteemed institution of higher learning explained in a statement to the conservative blog campusreform.org, it is "committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all members of our community."

Thus: "Consistent with that commitment, gender inclusive terms (chair; first-year student; upper-level student, etc.) should be used on University Documents, websites and policies."

That doesn't mean you must stop, should stop, using the word "freshman" because it's been deemed a hurtful vestige of patriarchal injustice - yet. ...

And making the word "freshman" verboten because it isn't "gender inclusive" stretches the exquisite sensibilities of victimhood beyond linguistic logic's bounds.

Aren't we all mankind?

So let's hope other colleges don't follow UNC's hypersensitive lead.Let's hope, too, that it's still OK to call Brice Johnson, a star Tar Heel basketball recruit from Edisto High School in Orangeburg County, a freshman forward.

---The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.

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Other Views: Democrat or Republican, America needs leadership

No one knows yet who will win the presidential election or control the houses of Congress after Tuesday's election. What is apparent is that after all of the campaigning is done, someone will have to